Definition of an "Instant"
 

Given that the commander is in charge, one of the challenges facing first officers flying with certain captains is being prompted to do something a nano-second prior to when said first officer was going to take said action.

I am not referring to safety critical items here but "housekeeping" items such as selecting the heading bug to runway QDM after VOR/LOC capture (for example). When operating we all have a certain mental sequence and sometimes one may appear to be a little "late" in making a selection but there may be a good reason for this.

I would be interested to hear other views but I feel that captains who unwittingly badger the FO to "hurry" non safety critical items can lead to a less that ideal atmosphere on the flight deck and is not good CRM.

Your anticipated responses and required callouts are well choreographed in a well known publication called SOP which most large air carriers utilize. It's part of the training; and when these procedures are learned, practiced in the sim and eventually fully understood, then you won't have to worry about what's expected of you.

It is all tewwibly frustrating, isn't it? You will learn to 'put up with it' - and that it works both ways too. It may, of course, be that the Captain was trying to 'nudge' you as he/she may have noticed you were slow to back up the pointer? Who knows? It need not be the end of the world as we know it.

The other day my 'eager' hyper-active Jump-seat F/O deselected the ATIS frequency I was about to listen to and selected an Air Nostrum Malaga handling frequency so he could arrange his travel - all this as we passed Brest:ugh:and all without as much as a 'may I?". That must rate well up the scale.